Alliance dreadnought Inextinguishable
Inextinguishable was a Terra-class dreadnought of the Terran Alliance Star Fleet, a class of warships considered by many to be among the most formidable in the galaxy. Designed as a purpose-built flagship to protect the fleet admiral and his staff, Inextinguishable saw action in most of the battles fought by the Terran Alliance until her decommissioning, including Admiral James Holland's masterful engagement at the height of the Razorbird Crusade: the Battle of Djangor. Design The design of the Terra-class dreadnoughts was born out of a desire to match existing Razorbird warships, seen as generally superior in every regard to existing Alliance warships, on a 1-to-1 basis. Building upon the dependable Mars-class battleship design and enlarging it to take new 35cm boring lasers took several years as the architects struggled to bring the amount of armament needed to bear on such a massive hull. The result of their labour, however, proved well worth the sweat and tears: the Terra class proved to be the largest and most advanced warships in Terran history, so large in fact that only the Sol-based shipyards of Saturn were capable of building and refitting them. Though on the slower side in keeping with Alliance doctrine for capital ships, they were impressively protected as well, with over a metre of armour in places in addition to the redoubtable shielding the Alliance perfected. The hullform consisted of two double wedge-shaped hulls joined together, allowing for the maximum amount of firepower to be brought to bear on a target in front of the ship and all of the heavy lasers to be brought to bear on the broadside. The heavy 35cm boring lasers were located at the junction of the two hulls, allowing them to have maximum protection. Armament The Terra-class dreadnoughts featured an impressive armament: two 35cm boring lasers specially designed for the class, capable of punching through all but the heaviest protection and shielding, mated to an impressive array of the Alliance's dependable 28cm laser cannons. A further massive battery of 15cm laser cannons for anti-ship work and 10.5cm 'rapid response' cannons for breaking up bomber attacks as well as destroyer torpedo runs was provided, studded throughout the hull in well-protected weapons emplacements. The Terra-class dreadnoughts also carried a battery of torpedoes: two Ragnarök torpedo launchers, each firing a single massive armoured torpedo, as well as eight multiple-launch 'swarm' torpedo launchers for short range combat. There were also a large number of 5cm blaster banks and the Alliance ubiquitous 'Aegis' laser defense for point-defense and antistarfighter work. History Commission Inextinguishable (BB-777) commissioned into the Terran Alliance Star Fleet on November 11th, 2485, during the Razorbird Crusade. Captain Yang Tai-long took command of the vessel upon launch from the shipyards of Saturn, and Admiral James Holland took her for his flagship during the forming of his 15th Mobile Fleet - only half the size of a typical Alliance fleet at 8,000 ships, and mostly cruisers and destroyers at that. Early Service & The Razorbird Crusade The Inextinguishable served as Admiral James Holland's flagship throughout the Razorbird Crusade at the head of his small, under-strength 15th Fleet. As his only modern capital ship aside from a few small carriers converted over from cruiser hulls, Inextinguishable typically deployed with the gunline rather than holding back like most flagships were expected to do. It was in this manner that she garnered a reputation as 'the lucky ship', Admiral Holland winning several stunning victories against larger Razorbird forces from her bridge with his masterful tactics. Battle of Djangor It was at Djangor where Inextinguishable truly made a name for herself: the understrength 15th Fleet, defending the materially important planet, engaged and destroyed a much superior Razorbird fleet in concert with Admiral Perry's 4th and Admiral Artemovich's 9th Fleets. Admiral Holland first drew in the numerically-superior enemy by using his own flagship as bait, before utilizing his large number of fighters to force the Razorbirds to drop their shields in order to be able to engage the small Alliance strike craft with their point defenses - which exposed them to the heavy guns of the Inextinguishable and the few other cruisers and destroyers they had capable of firing on their fleet. The dreadnought destroyed no fewer than twelve Razorbird capital ships in the engagement, and dealt crippling damage to the Razorbird supercarrier and flagship Crimson Monolith before the Gaius Dulius finished her off with her boring lasers. This came at the cost of both Captain Yang and Admiral Holland's lives in the battle, where in the final moments of the engagement Inextinguishable took a direct hit to her bridge from the Razorbird battlecruiser Vainglorious. Though the dreadnought survived and her bridge remained intact, both officers were hit with spall shrapnel and mortally wounded; rather than leaving the now-damaged bridge to receive medical treatment, they continued to fight the battle from their posts. Captain Yang died of blood loss just before the Razorbirds ordered their general retreat, while Admiral Holland survived long enough to turn over his fleet to Vice-Admiral Richard Lee (later making name for himself as a brilliant Fleet Admiral). Third War in Heaven Service Decommissioning Category:Starships Category:Individual Starships Category:Star Dreadnoughts Category:Terran Alliance Category:Alliance Starships